He Entered Triumphantly
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
For the past several weeks we’ve been walking through the story of the hours leading up to Jesus’ resurrection – incidents that were predicted by the prophet Isaiah, 700 years before they happened.
Did you know though that Isaiah wasn’t the only one to predict Jesus’ life, birth, or death.
One of the most famous predictions of the Messiah was fulfilled by the prophet Zechariah, about Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey.
Zechariah was a little bit younger than Isaiah and lived around 500 B.C. and he wrote about the day that we call Palm Sunday.
In . He said,
9 Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Zechar
Now to put Zechariah’s prophesy into perspective, during Zechariah’s prophetic days, the nation of Israel was rebuilding their city and nation after returning from exile in Babylon.
The walls of Jerusalem were still in ruins.
There was not even a gate for Jesus to ride through.
Yet Zechariah boldly predicted that one day, Messiah the King would ride triumphantly into the city to shouts and joy and triumph!
And if you remember when we first started this study several weeks, ago we were talking about odds.
And thinking about that, with the state of the nation of Israel during Zechariah’s times, what are the odds that what he prophesied could happen?
From the Jewish people of his day’s perspective it could not.
But yet, it did. It’s recorded in history and celebrated annually.
All four gospels tell the story.
And that’s the story we are going to be looking at this morning.
We will be looking at the days before the final days leading up to the Resurrection.
Because this weekend marks the beginning of Holy Week.
Alright, let’s get a running start on it by moving backwards a few days.
Like I said, today is Palm Sunday.
So if we were looking at things through a historical lens, what was Jesus doing yesterday?
Well, over the last several weeks He’s been journeying south, from Caesarea Philippi to Jerusalem, teaching in the villages along the way and training the 12.
He knows He’s got to be in the Holy City for Passover. So He’s paced His travels to train the twelve right up to the last minute.
On the day before He makes His way to Jerusalem, He arrives in Jericho, which is 14 miles east and 4,000 feet below Jerusalem in elevation.
Luke says:
Eating With Sinners
Eating With Sinners
1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. 5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. 7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner’.” 8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”
1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. 5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”
6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. 7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner’.” 8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”
So, What Happened During Holy Week?
1. The Friday before Good Friday: In Jericho, Zacchaeus became a Jesus-follower.
And we have heard the song about Zacchaeus climbing the sycamore tree to get a glimpse of Jesus.
Zacchaeus knew that his life was missing something and Jesus was the answer.
So Zacchaeus did what he needed to do to get in touch with Jesus.
To reach the Lord!
And as a result “salvation came to his house.”
Salvation, literally came to his house because Jesus not only offered Zacchaeus the forgiveness he was seeking but also offered him friendship and companionship.
The Bible tells us that Jesus is a friend that stick’s closer than a brother and the truth is Jesus will stick with us when no one else will.
Jesus will not look down on us or judge us, but rather Jesus offers us several things.
· Salvation
· Friendship
· Companionship
And we see that play out here with Zacchaeus.
Jesus calls him down form the tree.
Comes to his house for dinner—even though the people were sneering and complaining about Jesus eating “with a sinful man.”
Brought salvation to his house.
Brought the companionship and friendship to his house by breaking bread with him.
Isn’t that what we are looking for as well?
Of course we want salvation and eternal life.
But outside of that, Jesus is also right there with us—all the time.
Every struggle, every problem we face, Jesus is right there with us.
Or at least He wants to be—if we will let him.
So with Zacchaeus squared away and after they had a good lunch with him, Jesus and His disciples hiked the grueling ascent from Jericho to a small village 2 miles east of Jerusalem, called Bethany.
Jealousy and Conviction
Jealousy and Conviction
Bethany was the home of some good friends of Jesus, siblings named Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.
Now, they had to make this 12-mile hike up to Bethany before sundown on Friday, because the Sabbath begins at sundown and no one is allowed to walk more than 2/3s of a mile on the Sabbath.
So they walked 12 miles uphill, covering 4,000 feet in vertical elevation in one afternoon and arrived at Lazarus’ house
And you can imagine they were very very tired.
So we pick up the next part of the story in .
John writes . .
1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
And then that night . . .
2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honour. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. 3 Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
Now we are talking about Mary Magdalene, the lady who had been forgiven by Jesus when she was caught in the act of adultery, who had became a disciple.
She was so moved by all that Jesus has done for her moves her she takes her most precious possession: an alabaster jar of oils, imported from India, and pours it on Jesus’ feet.
The Gospel of Mark tells us this jar of perfume was worth an entire year’s wages. –
So, in an act of pure love, gratitude and worship, Mary poured what was probably her entire life’s savings over Jesus’ feet.
She was saying, “Jesus I will give everything for you.”
“Jesus I give it all to you.”
Would we be willing to do that?
If God impressed on our hearts to give an entire year’s salary to Him would we be willing to do that?
If God told us to change our lives and enter into the ministry would we be willing to do that?
If God told us to go out of our way just a little bit and share the gospel with someone else, would we be willing to do that?
The point is not making great sacrifices, the point is making Jesus #1 in our lives.
The point is being willing to put Jesus first and to follow him with all our heart, our mind, and our soul.
To give Jesus our selves.
Are we willing to do that?
What Mary did was just an example.
So, think about that this morning.
What has God impressed on you to do?
What has God called you to do?
Are you willing to do it?
Now, this was an extremely generous and sacrificial thing for Mary to do.
And one would think that others around would have seen it and viewed it with awe.
But that is not what happens.
Look at the very next verse . . .
4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected,
4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.”
Judas, Judas, Judas.
You see, there are a couple of things at play here.
We know that Judas will betray Jesus and he was self-centered and self-focused anyway.
We also know that Judas was a bit greedy.
But I will add this as well.
Judas was jealous and under conviction.
You see what happens is when people are living for God and doing the Lord’s work, those who have been called but refuse to answer the call, become jealous.
They are jealous because most likely the person that is working for God is being blessed by God.
Now, I am not talking about money or stuff.
I am talking about that internal joy and blessing that comes from being in the center of God’s will.
Even when bad days come and tough times come, they still can find joy in the Lord.
And that is a blessing.
And the one refusing to work for God, well they are just bitter and unsatisfied with life.
They are always looking to blame and comparing themselves with others.
And they are jealous and they lash out.
But also, they are under heavy conviction of the Holy Spirit.
They know that they should be working for God and that they should be being obedient to God, but they refuse.
And the Holy Spirit has them under so much conviction, that they can’t stand it.
It is killing them and they refuse to give in to the Holy Spirit.
So, you know what they do?
They lash out.
They find excuses as to why the person working for God shouldn’t be doing what they are doing.
They look at everything with a critical eye and question every action and every motive behind a person’s actions.
They want everything done the way they want it done but they don’t want to jump in and help.
These are the ones that are very quick to tell you how you should be running a church or a service, but they will never jump in and help.
And the reality is, they really don’t care about the church or the church doing well.
They don’t care about sharing the gospel or helping people find the Lord.
All they care about is finding fault in everything you do, so they can ease their own conscious a bit.
Which is exactly what John says here about Judas.
Look what he says next . . .
6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.
John 12:6
Can you imagine someone who would steal from the church?
That would be like someone coming in and taking all of the money from the sound room jar at our church—which happened by the way.
That would be like someone taking from the offering plate when it goes by them.
That would be someone breaking into the safe and stealing everything before it was deposited.
And when we think about those things we are appalled.
We think, “how could someone do that?”
And I am glad we are appalled but don’t we do the same thing?
When God has given us talents and abilities and we refuse to use them, are we not robbing God?
Are we not stealing the blessing that God has intended for someone through our work?
And if we want to keep it real and keep it related to the financial, when we don’t pay tithes and offerings, is that not robbing God?
8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ “In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
And we don’t want to think about that because it makes us uncomfortable.
And people say, “that’s the Old Testament, we don’t go by that.”
Really?
Where does it say in the Bible that we can pick and choose what parts to use and what parts to reject?
And I hear people say, “well Jesus did away with the Law.”
No He didn’t—Jesus fulfilled the Law.
And also, on a practical note, it’s funny how we will use the Old Testament to support positions we agree with but when it convicts us over something we are failing at, we reject it.
The reality is, when we fail to give to God, whether it is money, time, or talents, we are robbing God.
We are being disobedient to God.
And we are sinning against God.
And we really need to think about that and consider that.
Do our actions line up with our words?
But, let’s finish up here.
Jesus, after hearing what Judas had to say responds . . .
John 12
7 “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”
The Triumphant Entry
The Triumphant Entry
Jesus saw it for what it was and saw them for who they really were.
And he admonished them for it.
And I also believe he admonishes us when we have that same attitude.
I certainly know he has admonished me when I have that sort of attitude.
So back to our timeline on Saturday, Jesus celebrates the Sabbath, eats dinner with friends, and is anointed by Mary for His coming death.
The Sabbath ends at sundown, and John says…
9 Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, 11 for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him.
John 12:
So, they were not only going to kill Jesus, they had their sights on Lazarus as well.
Can you feel the hatred they had?
How cold and callused their hearts were.
John goes on . . .
12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the King of Israel!” 14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written,
John 12:12
15 “Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” 16 At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realise that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him. 17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word.
John 12:15-1
18 Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”
And Luke adds . . .
41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognise the time of God’s coming to you.”
Luke 19:
45 Then he entered the temple area and began driving out those who were selling. 46 “It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers’.”
Luke 19:45-48
Altar Call
Altar Call
So when we put it all together on Palm Sunday, the first day of the most important week in the life of the most important person who ever lived,
Jesus received praise and prayers as He rode into Jerusalem.
He wept over the future destruction of the people and city.
And He went into the Temple to worship, but wound up cleansing it of the money-changers who were taking advantage of people rather than helping them connect with God.
And that takes us through Sunday—Palm Sunday.
The day we celebrate today.
How quickly though thing would change from a place of victory to a place of tragedy.
But that is where we end this morning.
And my question is, what has God convicted you of this morning?
What has God put on your heart?
And what are you willing to do about it?